December 2nd, 2008
Fortune 500 series: How Newell Rubbermaid uses social media
Q. Do you have specific team members dedicated to social media or is this integrated into your existing marketing structure?
A. We typically lean on a combination of in-house marketing communications and interactive marketing team members as well as agencies like Converseon and LBi. Graco in particular developed their strategy and plans in partnership with Converseon. Rubbermaid on the other hand relied on a very small internal team with limited resources. Two very different approaches that both worked. My guess is that our other brands will also come up with unique ways to reach out to our consumers using social network marketing tactics.
Q. Do you have any full-time social media staffers? Either way, do you feel you need them?
A. At this point, we do not have team members that are 100-percent dedicated to social media marketing. Typically they also are either marketing communications, public relations or interactive marketing team members with at least 50 percent or more of their job responsibilities tied to these more traditional functions. So far, we have been successful, with the programs we have started to date, without that dedicated role. However, as this area expands, each brand is going to have to determine if a dedicated role within the brand or within our shared services groups is required. My guess is that for at least the rest of 2008 and 2009 we are going to have to wear multiple hats. We also will be leveraging our agency partners like Converseon and LBi to help us in this area.
Start small, be flexible and be willing to pull back and change if something does not work.
Q. What is more important for your marketing team — traditional marketing background or Web 2.0 knowledge?
A. I think it is important to have a strong marketing background. We are a company moving from a portfolio of product focused brands to one that is focused on brand building, innovation and consumer focused brands. This is an important transition for our company. As part of that, we are providing education to our marketing team members on Web 2.0 opportunities. We want our marketing team members to look at their campaigns from an integrated perspective and utilize Web 2.0 tactics as another tool they can take advantage of just like TV, radio and print. Again the amount of resource dedicated to any particular tactic or strategy needs to be based on consumer insights and market research relevant to the target consumer segment.
Q. How do you measure the ROI of your social media programs?
A. At this point, ROI is still pretty difficult to measure. We are in process of putting in services that will help us measure ROI, but they are not in place yet. Services that will help us determine ROI include BazaarVoice, Channel Intelligence, Omniture and ForeSee Results. The combination of these services – Ratings & Reviews, Advanced Where To Buy, Web Analytics, Online Customer Satisfaction – will help us determine the value of our social media marketing and interactive marketing efforts. As an example our goals for the Graco brand included increasing positive brand perception in the blogosphere and humanizing the brand. For Rubbermaid it is to increase awareness of our products and how to use them. Rubbermaid has very high brand awareness but some of our exciting new products like FastTrack, Rubbermaid Premier and Produce Saver are still relatively low.
Next: Social media adoption and success –>
Jennifer Leggio, aka "Mediaphyter," writes about the "social business" side of social media - including enterprise, security and reputation issues. See her full profile and disclosure of her industry affiliations.
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